And now...a few words from Somebody's Parents (AKA somebody's father)

Blogging and NPR Pledges
This is pledge week at our local public radio station. It appears that the preferred technique to solicit funds is a very technical process called “guilt”. Today’s afternoon drive time guilt message solicitation was from the “This American Life” host Ira Glass. Ira’s piece pointed out the fact that 9 out of 10 NPR listeners do not pledge to the station they enjoy.

    He has decided that NPR was going about it all the wrong way. He said his new plan was to just be happy with the current one supporter in 10 by reducing expenses to 1/10 their current levels. To illustrate he called the newspaper in his home town of Chicago and ordered 10 papers offering to pay for one. Obviously that didn’t fly, so he concludes that more people need to pledge to NPR. He conveniently gave the phone number to call and pledge your financial support at the end of his piece.

    Someone close to us has requested an increase in the rate of blogging. They even threatened to withhold their witty, imaginative and entertaining blogs as “hostage” until others delivered new blog entries. Obviously, they could develop a career as a NPR pledge shill if they weren’t totally invested on the path to become an attorney. (similar but slightly different career paths)

    But as I do with NPR near the end of the pledge drive when I cave and pay up, I have buckled under the social stress and pressure. Here is a blog entry. There actually may be others tucked away in my keyboard if I can just find them.

    So for the rest of you, get with it and BLOG. While you are at it, you better pledge to your local NPR station as well. Sophisticated entertainment like “Wait, wait, don’t tell me” doesn’t come cheaply you know. (Well maybe it is cheap, but there is an unwritten obligation)

    I only wish the my actions were motivated by my altruistic desire to blog and not the intense guilt heaped upon me by some unnamed “bacon” blogger.